Oct 31, 2024
From Our TBR Pile

Review — Mosaic by Catherine McCarthy

Mosaic
By: Catherine McCarthy
Illustrator: Devin Forst (Cover Art and Design)
Release Date: August 8, 2023
Publisher: Dark Hart Books
Rating:


2020’s Aberystwyth University Prize for Short Fiction winner Catherine McCarthy incorporates stained glass window repair, long-forgotten churches, and the macabre into one compact tale in her 2023 novella Mosaic. A compelling front cover by Devin Forst draws readers in with its depiction of a woman half-illuminated in the myriad of colors of an unseen stained glass window, that rainbow-colored half portrayed oddly corpse-like.

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Feb 13, 2024
From Our TBR Pile

Review — We Had to Remove This Post by Hanna Bervoets (Translated by Emma Rault)

City landscape against a pink sky We Had to Remove This Post
By: Hanna Bervoets
Translator: Emma Rault
Release Date: March 6, 2021
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Rating:


The novella We Had to Remove This Post by Hanna Bervoets took BookTube and BookTok by storm. It was all anyone talked about for months and every library in the general vicinity had a hold list a mile long. This was of little wonder; Dutch author Hanna Bervoets holds much acclaim, including being granted the Frans Kellendonk Prize and having her works adapted for film and TV.

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Jul 03, 2023
New & Upcoming Releases

Review — Of Cattle and Men by Ana Paula Maia

Of Cattle and Men
By: Ana Paula Maia
Translator: Zoe Perry
Release Date: April 11, 2023
Publisher: Charco Press
Received From: Publisher
(All reviews are our own, honest opinions.)
Rating:


[drocap type=secondary] Award-winning author Ana Paula Maia’s novella Of Cattle and Men, translated from the original Portuguese by Zoe Perry, is an engrossing read that’s impossible to put down. Published in English in April 2023, the novella brings together themes of isolation, death, and slaughter into a slim volume that lingers long after the last page.[/dropcap]

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Jun 17, 2023
From Our TBR Pile

Review The Witnesses Are Gone by Joel Lane

The Witnesses Are Gone
By: Joel Lane
Release Date: October 1, 2022
Publisher: Influx Press
Award: Shirley Jackson Award Nominee for Novella (Finalist, 2009); British Fantasy Award Nominee for Best Novella (2010)
Received From: Publisher
(All reviews are our own, honest opinions.)
Rating:


The widely acclaimed The Witnesses Are Gone by Joel Lane finds new life with Influx Press’s 2022 printing. It is of little wonder this novella was nominated for multiple awards upon its first printing, namely as a finalist for the Shirley Jackson Award for Novella in 2009 and a nominee for the British Fantasy Award Nominee for Best Novella in 2010. This is an engrossing, all-consuming tale that pulls readers into the strange, unknown world of Jean Rien and the old movies which may or may not exist at all.

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Mar 20, 2023
From Our TBR Pile

Review — All the Horses of Iceland by Sarah Tolmie

All the Horses of Iceland
By: Sarah Tolmie
Release Date: March 1, 2022
Publisher: Tor.com
Rating:


Sarah Tolmie—author, poet, and writer of sonnets—brings us a novella combining fantasy and historical fiction that captures all the feel of an old tale found in an ancient, labyrinthine library. As a medievalist, Tolmie’s knowledge of the time period and literature of the age are keenly apparent in All the Horses of Iceland.

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Oct 24, 2022
From Our TBR Pile

Review — Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey.

Several people camping. Upright Women Wanted
By: Sarah Gailey
Release Date: February 4, 2020
Publisher: Tor
Award: Hugo Award Nominee, Best Novella (2021), Locus Award Nominee, Best Novella (2021)
Rating:


Sarah Gailey’s novella Upright Women Wanted is another slim volume from an award-winning author packed with adventure and set in an interesting alternative-America setting, much like their first two novellas River of Teeth and Taste of Marrow.

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Jul 07, 2022
From Our TBR Pile

Review — Rizzio by Denise Mina

Front cover of the novel Rizzio by Denise Mina Rizzo
By: Denise Mizio
Release Date: September 2, 2021
Publisher: Pegasus Crime
Series: Darkland Tales
Rating:


Denise Mina’s slim novel Rizzio packs one hell of a punch within a mere 118 pages. The multi-award-winning author brings us a new novel centered on a crime—the murder of Mary, Queen of Scots’, private secretary, David Rizzio. This is an utterly outstanding work of literary and crime fiction, one that will keep you at the edge of your seat regardless if you know the true-life story of David Rizzio and Mary, Queen of Scots.

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Feb 21, 2022
From Our TBR Pile

Review — A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers

A robot and a person driving a wagon on a road A Psalm for the Wild-Built
By: Becky Chambers
Release Date: July 13, 2021
Publisher: Tordotcom
Series: Monk and Robot #1
Rating:


Becky Chambers is known for works set in futuristic fictional worlds that often drift more towards the slice-of-life than something heavily plotted. A Psalm for the Wild-Built is no different, the story following a tea monk and a wild-built robot they meet one day on the fringes of civilization.

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Jan 21, 2021
From Our TBR Pile

Review – Light Boxes by Shane Jones

Light Boxes by Shane Jones Light Boxes
By: Shane Jones
Illustrator: Kein Garduno (illustrations); Paul Buckley (Design/Lettering)
Release Date: 2009
Publisher: Penguin
Rating:


Shane Jones’ debut novel Light Boxes is a short, vivid thing with all the trappings of a fable. Prior works of Jones’ include poetry and short stories in publications such as New York Tyrant, Unsaid, Typo, and Pindeldyboz.

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May 24, 2020
From Our TBR Pile

Review – This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

This Is How You Lose the Time War
By: Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone
Release Date: July 16, 2019
Publisher: Saga Press
Award: Hugo Award Nominee for Best Novella (2020), Nebula Award Nominee for Best Novella (2019), British Science Fiction Association Award Nominee for Best Shorter Fiction (2019), Los Angeles Times Book Prize Nominee for Science Fiction, Fantasy & Speculative Fiction (Ray Bradbury Prize) (2020), Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Science Fiction (2019) Reddit r/fantasy Stabby Award for Best Novella (2019)
Rating:


If you like time travel, romance, and epistolary style novels look no further. This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone is an utterly fantastic novel and so very deserving of the many award nominations it’s been nominated for recently – including a Nebula Award Nominee for Best Novella (2019), British Science Fiction Association Award Nominee for Best Shorter Fiction (2019), and Ray Bradbury Prize (2020).

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